IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Students and families in Iredell County received a back-to-school welcome no one hoped for as a positive case of COVID-19 put many students in quarantine after just one day of school.
Parents at Lakeshore Elementary say it was less than four hours into the first day of school when they were notified about the positive case inside a first-grade classroom. Chrissy Winchester's daughter is one of the students in that class who must now quarantine but she believes the situation could have been prevented.
"They sent him to school awaiting COVID results without a mask," Winchester said. "Parents can't be trusted to make good decisions, so again leadership has to mandate that these things happen."
Earlier this summer, the ISS board unanimously decided to make masks optional. Hundreds of parents signed a petition asking that masks be required at all ISS campuses. Sri Gerschler started the petition after her daughter was hospitalized with COVID-19 last November.
"As a mom, it was gut-wrenching and I didn't want another parent to feel that," Gerschler said. "On top of that, I'm trying to protect my other kids."
ISS officials shared the results of a survey that showed 52% of parents and staff wanted masks to be optional, while 47% of those surveyed wanted a mask mandate.
"I think making a decision off a survey, respectfully, is not a way to lead appropriately," said parent Jason Winchester.
Instead, parents hope ISS might follow the lead of Mooresville Graded Schools, which chose to reverse its mask option after hundreds of students were forced to quarantine just days into the new school year.
So far, ISS says they have no plans to change to a mask requirement.
Contact Briana Harper at bharper@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.